Sunday, October 31, 2010

Hi everybody,Sorry Elaine that I messed one of the two blocks up.I can make one more if you would like with fabrics I have in the same tones and colors...Let me know, I really don't mind, I had a lot of fun making the squares.Happy Halloween to y'all!Melina

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Hello Everyone!! It's good to be back! I love the new look of the blog. Good job! I wanted to let Elaine know that I got her fabric squares, loved them, and I have turned them into blocks. I used that strip cutter thing for the first time since I bought it, (see pic), and it took me a couple of times to get used to it. The first cut was wrong, so I had to add some of my fabric to the blocks. I'm thinking this is going to be a pretty cool looking quilt! I know my turn is not until next August, but I'm already working on some ideas. Have a great day ladies!!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Monday, October 25, 2010

Elaine,
I was so excited to find your fabrics in my letterbox-thought they would take alot longer to reach the southern part of New Zealand. I had the intention of taking a photo of the fabrics before I made the blocks but got so excited I forgot.
This block was fun to make and I can't believe how much easier it was than I thought it would be.
I hope you like what I have done with them.

Everyones blocks are so different I can't wait to see it come together.

Sorry that the white seems to have blown out in the photo but it's that thing in the sky I haven't seen for a while, wait, yep, it's the SUN WooHoo!!!

..I love the fabric and I love the block, it's so darn easy..! I'm so happy to back in the swing with this group..!
Be in the mail this afternoon my friend, this quilt is going to look fabulous, can't wait to see how you are going to put it together...
xxx

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Marlene (aka Marls) greeting you all from New Zealand. Kia Ora is hello/greeting in Maori our indigenous language. Sorry it has taken me awhile to post but work has been unbelievably busy and the brain hasn't been into posting on the computer.

It looks like I am the only member from NZ but I can live with that!! I have just returned to NZ after living in Brisbane, Australia for the last three years. It was during this time I started my blog and became a follower of Lizzies blog and hence here I am. My nephew came up with the name for my blog at a time when I had two very spoilt cats who flew over to Aussie with me. Sadly one died about a month before I returned to NZ so only one came back-fat Bella. I think it's time she had another friend!!

I am now living in Invercargill which is at the very bottom of the South Island but am actually an Aucklander coming here for the job. I am a midwife and am managing the maternity unit of the hospital here and loving it. I have also worked in England and worked in the Middle East for 5 years so love traveling. I am in my 50's, live on my own (with fat cat), do not have children and am foot loose and fancy free.

I started quilting about 10 years ago when a new friend suggested I take a patchwork class as she had just taken one and thought it would be something we could do together. Well I got hooked and she had children!! It is hard to describe my stylw of quilting but it is about brights!! I have just bought a longarm quilting machine but haven't had time to really play yet.

I am so looking forward to this bee and to getting to know everyone and the fun ahead. I have read about swaps and bees like this one and have always thought about participating and when Lizzie put out the request I jumped at the chance.
Thank you Lizzie for organising us all.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Hello to all! I'm Tara, one of the 12 from the first round and this is my quilt top. I had everyone make little houses out of 30s repros and am so looking forward to round 2! I'm still working on peicing the back, which I'm liking so much that it may become 2 quilts! I'll post pics as soon as it's done.

Everyone that was missing blocks from me, they are in route to you as I type. Sorry for such a delay--I'll do better this time!

This is the first blog post that I have written in over four months and I hope it spurs me to find the time to do it more often! I must find a way to slow down and smell something, even if it's not roses!

In the mean time, 5 batches of soap are calling my name, as well as a commissioned bag, work, husband on business trip until Friday, so home alone with 4 year old, getting food cooked and all of us packed(and my projects organized for 36 hours in the car!) for a week long trip to Minnesota next week! I guess I'll slow down when I'm dead!

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Well, finally, eh? I'm Elaine, from Texas, USA. I was actually born and raised in the Northwest but moved to the Southwest in 1999, via North Carolina, Arizona, New Mexico and finally here, in Texas @ 5 years ago. The hubs and I are old and hate snow, hence, the move south!

We have 5 kids between us, @9 grands and @least 1 great-grand who is so cute and cuddly...but, I digress. My hubs is retired from his career and I'm having "issues" so am not working. But, when I do work, I am an ER nurse.

I collected fabric @ 10 years before I learned how to quilt. I did sign up for a beginner quilt class and thought it was a total waste of time, so began hoarding quilt magazines and books and taught myself how to quilt...yeaaaa!!

I also own a quilt shop, brick and mortar and also sell products on etsy and enjoy meeting new people from all over the world. Here's a little known fact....it's cheaper to mail packages to Canada then the US. Packages and envelopes get to Australia faster then to Canada!

I have thought alot about what I want to choose for my month and have decided to go with the disappearing 4 patch, if ya'll don't mind. I'll post the pics and directions for you. I want to send out some squares for you ladies and you get to choose at least 1, maybe 2 fabrics from your stash to complete the square.

If you want to make 2 blocks, great, if only one, that's cool too. I am going to be using 5" squares, so go dig that orange out Vivian, lol!

I have addresses for: Tara, San-Dee, Jenny, Lizzie, Melina and Solidia. If you don't see your name on this list, please do the group email thing and send me your address. I would love to get the packets out to you real soon and I hate feeding Yukon Viv's mule...

DISCLAIMER: I have tried since Sunday and cannot fix this right, I am so sorry. Please look at the pics with the numbers, since they are all out of order, and let me know if you're truly as confused as I am right now. I need a glass of wine or more sleep...yep, more wine. Sorry for any confusion....but really, do let me know if you need better instructions. Like I said, I will send some patches out and ya'll can add your own 5" square or squares. Are the directions confusing? Am I just a blooming nut here? Oops, wine box calling, Elaine

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

hi, all! I finally got to open my laptop and it's so nice to see all this energy flowing around the world! this is going to be fun, a real "a-ven-chure" as the redhead used to say.

Fall is coming to Maryland and it's wonderful. Sunny, cloudy, breezy and cool! I'm feeling a gazillion times better than I have for weeks. Of course, it may be due to the fact that I'm trying to go gluten-free for a week. I read about it while I was waiting for my bone density scan last week, and thought I'd try it. Or, it might be due to the DSW therapy I had after the scan when I bought 3 pairs of shoes-in defense, let me say right away that 2 pair were on markdown and I had a $50 gift card.

Honestly, there is nothing like a few pairs of new shoes to make this girl smile....

Monday, October 4, 2010

....Lizzie, for those of you that don't know me I thought that I should say hello! I'm the one that's been harassing you all with emails in the last week :o)

I joined this group last year after Elaine told me they were still looking for members, it was a huge stretch for me as I'd never done anything like this online before. I made some amazing new friends, pushed the boundaries and made blocks totally out of my comfort zone and had a ball..!
This time around I've taken over the admin role from Tara, who so admirably did it last year, so I'm the one who's going to hassle you all :o)

So, I turned 60 a couple of months ago and I'm still shaking my head and wondering how on earth that happened?? My Railway Man and I have been together for 40 years and we have four wonderful grown children, one fabulous son-in-law and a soon to be daughter-in-law, eight amazing grandchildren and a very pampered pooch called Miss Martha. We live an hour from Melbourne on 4 acres of what will one day be all garden in rural Victoria, Australia. I've been quilting for ever it seems, well, since about 1977 I think!! Right now I'm just starting to work on a quilt for a friend I've known for more than 30 years, you can read about this amazing outpouring of support from quilters around the world on my blog here.

You all know by now I should think that we had a few people fall off the planet, well the Bee Balm Blog anyway, last year and a few of us were left short of blocks. It was a shame but not the end of the world or the Bee Balm thankfully..!! We have some awesome new friends to play with and three are from my side of the world, I'm not a lonesome Aussie anymore :o)

These two quilts are from my Bee Balm blocks from last year, I decided to make two quilts with my blocks, I've nearly finished quilting the first one above and I'll probably start the one below as soon as I've finished Sue's quilt..

Welcome to all our new playmates and it's great to be back again with the old ones. I'm so looking forward to seeing what challenges you all throw out this time around.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

﻿ I'm excited to be joining this group and have been a follower since meeting Lizzie for real in Melbourne back in May.
Here is a little about me.
Home: A restored cottage circa 1880 in Dongara, Western Australia. Close to the beach and river, surrounded by farmland and two minutes drive from town and work. Perfection.
Family: "The bloke" who I married when I was 17.......a long time ago..... and our 4 grown children, two of them have produced our 5 gorgeous li'l grandies
Work: Spending the afternoons in the office of the local glazier to finance my fabric habit.
Love: (apart from the obvious family) Quilting and crafting. I think I made my first quilt before 1972, it's in a photo with the first born when she was a toddler. Design and drawing. Nature and animals. Travelling, reading, blogging, music, cooking and talking.
Dreams: Travel to US and Europe, own a long arm quilting machine, build a straw bale structure, learn as much as I can about everything, live long enough to achieve some of the aforementioned and remember what it is I want to do.
Faults: I'm bossy, untidy, way overweight and forgetful.

Hi everyone,
A short post to introduce myself...
I'm Kate, 52, and I'm from Sydney Australia. I live in a 1910 timber cottage in a leafy suburb only 15 minutes from Sydney CBD, so we have the best of both worlds, close to the city, close to beaches and Sydney Harbour, but we have bushland and national parks all around us. I'm married to a builder (25 year anniversary next month- eek) and we have 1 daughter (almost 18) who is currently studying for her HSC which is an important bank of final secondary school exams that determine what University she can go to.

I recently started a new job working 3.5days per week as an Executive Assistant to a terrific CEO of a Venture Capital firm, my office is right next to Sydney Harbour and the Opera House and I can hear the harbour ferries tooting as they leave the quay. In previous job incarnations, I have worked as a Landscape Designer, Caterer and Speech Pathologist (bit of a variety!)

I've been quilting for more than 20 years, my first quilt was a shadow applique baby quilt for my neice who is now 22. I quickly fell in love with antique quilts and have a bit of a collection of quilts, quilt tops and old blocks, the oldest of which is probably 1860. I was a very active member of a big quilting group in Sydney but resigned about 5 years ago due to internal politics and general bitchiness of some members (excuse the language!)... two great friends and I now get together every Tuesday afternoon and have lunch and sew, it is so fantastic, relaxing, and the highlight of my week. This year I have been working on a nutty applique via a monthly workshop held at Material Obsession - completely outside my comfort zone. I pretty much exclusively sew by hand - me and my machine are not well acquainted.

This is one of 9 applique blocks (8 are finished) there will be an applique border to follow.

This year I discovered blogging. It should be fun to get to know the group members and work on a variety of projects. I think the key here is to chose your project carefully - there is a big range of experience in the group members. I did say short, so I'll sign off now!
Cheers, Kate (empty field)

You're probably right, Viv, I was just so excited anyway--talking about fabric does that to me!

For the newbies: I'm San-Dee, in Bethesda, MD. I'm 59 going on 30 something. I have been sewing and crocheting/knitting since forever, but am only learning to quilt in this last year. I have one fully finished quilt to my credit that is in London right now. I have two daughters, 25 and 22. the older one is in AZ working on her doctorate in planetary geology and engaged to a wonderful young man who is an IT guru, the family would be lost without their ability to dial in and fix what we have screwed up on the computers! The younger one is in London working on a masters in East Asia Art. I miss them both daily, they were great kids and have grown up to be wonderful young women who I am pleased to count as my friends as well as my daughters.

My husband works for NASA which is why we are in MD rather than CA where we would probably rather be. The past two years have been physically rough on us, I was diagnosed with breast cancer in '09 and he had a stroke in '10 with various circulation problems becoming apparent. Hopefully he is on the road to recovery-I am truly not cut out to be Martha Stewart and keep this house spotless and him well-fed. He is the main cook, and I think one of the reasons he is recovering so well is that he is tired of eating my cooking! We have known each other since junior high and have been best friends since day one.

We are also on the road to Ohio fairly frequently for elder-care. My father-in-law's second wife has vascular dementia and he is primary care-giver. He does not get a lot of help from her children in town, so we make up for it. We go in with lots of good food and just hang out for the weekend trying to make things easier for him. I feel that I am truly accepted as he complains to my sib-in-laws about me as much he complains about them to us! I'll tell you all, "it ain't easy getting old"!

I have learned so much from the block choices the first round made in this bee and I'm really looking forward to this round. The blogging community has given me many new friends, and I sincerely think that I would not have recovered as well as I did from surgery if I had not had so many people pulling for me and keeping me in touch with the world via the internet.

Feel free to tell me (us) a little about yourselves, I'm excited to get to know the newer members.

I'm Vivian and I live in the Yukon Territory in northern Canada. I'm nestled in the mountains on an acreage that holds fox, and moose (we have willows so we usually get a couple of moose stop by for a nibble), we have a ravine go through that's a natural corridor for the local black bear and wolves (the wolves come by twice a year on their migration route...around Christmas and in the late spring...keep the little dogs and cats inside!!!). I love my view of the surrounding mountain tops, currently covered in snow.

I'm a mom to two girls, 10 and 11. They are my joy and I can't wait to see the people they grow up to be. They are quite the little fat quarter collectors, and Lisa (my 10 y.o.) is collecting 6 inch square food fabrics...and not just any food...desserts and sweets...she's got cupcakes, and chocolate covered strawberries, bagels and donuts, oreo cookies even. She hopes to make a food quilt this winter. I had a proud momma moment this summer when we stopped at a quilt shop in Alberta...Lisa heads for the counter with two bolts of food fabric and asks the worker to cut her a fat quarter of each please. The worker knew she was dealing with someone who was serious. Jennifer is more into socks and sewing dog toys. No sock is safe in our house, she turns them into bunnies and snakes. I have a rice filled snake (made from a striped knee high ) on my desk at work to use as a paperweight. I love it. My significant other and I have been together for 19 years now...sheesh...where did the time go! I'm 39 now, and my guy still thinks he's 32...hmmm, when did I pass him?...he'll be 48 this year so someone better break the news to him, somehow, I don't think he believes me.

I've been quilting for almost 2 years now. My local shop is Bear's Paw Quilts (www.bearspawquilts.com). I've visited the shop for many years to pick up GAST threads as I've been a needleworker forever (and a freelance designer). I would pick up a fat quarter or two and matching GAST and go home and design a pillow or something. The owner, Ruth, has been threatening me for years that she'll turn me into a quilter. Once day she convinced me to sign up for Quiltstart, a 3 evening class where we were taught all the basics, terminalogy and came away with a rail fence table runner: pieced, quilted and bound. I was hooked. I've signed up for several classes each term and am hoping to finish "quilt school" in the next year. I love it. Although my least favourite thing to do is needleturned applique.

We also live with two dogs - old Lady who's about 13 and she's a black lab/blue heeler cross, and is starting to feel her age, and Zeva who is a 2 year old Carmacks mutt - she's a tiny bit of everything small in the town of Carmacks...there is a lot of chihauhau, a lot of corgi, and a bit of jack russell or some kind of terrier in there, we've heard even maybe a weiner dog but that's an unconfirmed rumour, and finally, there is Crammer the cat, pronounced kraymer, who is in charge of everybody. When Zeva was a baby (imagine, full grown she's 10 - 11 pounds...as a baby she could fit in my pocket) and I would take her for a walk around the property, Crammer would follow calling us back b/c don't you know it's dangerous out there for a baby.

Currently, my favourite colours are purple batiks...oh and orange! I'm loving orange, I recently made an orange bag (pic on my blog) and I can't get enough. Did you know orange and pink look fantastic together? I didn't until I decided to sew them together.

I look forward to having fun with everyone during round 2. Happy quilting!!! Viv